Stumbling Upon Happiness

There are a few questions always brewing in my mind. Always always. If you've spoken to me for longer than 2 hours you've probably heard my 20 minute bit about altruism. The other BIG question is what makes people happy... i mean universally.

As always Daniel Gilbert pulled through and wrote a book... Stumbling Upon Happiness.

I first met Gilbert through a TED talk that blew me away. I guess what's nice about seeing someone lecture before reading their book is you get a sense of the author's voice, mannerisms, and in some aspects their personality. So I fell in love is what happened. He gave a fantastic lecture about how our psychological immune system is constantly working to make us happy. So when I saw the book I nabbed it and was done in a day or two. He was described as a mix between Malcolm Gladwell and David Sedaris by critic and I think that's a perfect description. Surely it was very informative with graphs, cited experiments, and all that good stuff, but it was also very very very funny.

I can say without a doubt that this book probably changed my life or at the very least how I think.

Summary: Chill out... be happy cuz your body wants you to be. (wow that completely strips the book bear and makes it sound useless to read but trust me very very very useful)

Murakami=Gehry? Say It Ain't So!

I've been reading like a MAD woman these past weeks because for once I have time and my daily two+ hours of commuting provides the perfect time to. Surely there were a few books that were life changing but this needed to be posted because reading Haruki Murakami's latest, What I Think About When I Think About Running made me so so so sad.

And not in the typical 'oh my god I think I'm going through another existential crisis thank god someone understands me in this world' type of sad that I'm usually thrown into after reading one of his books. Mostly a 'wow I've been duped' sad. Why you ask? Murakami seems like an arrogant Gehry-esque toolbag that likes to talk about how modest and innovative he is!

Surely arrogance never hindered someone from being a successful writer, architect, or musician (I'm looking at you Amadeus, Chris Martin, Gehry, KANYE WEST), but I'd like to imagine one of my favorite writer being a feeble dreamy man that's shy, intelligent, and likes to listen.

Summary: I'm better than everyone else. I conquer things better and more frequently than anyone else. I'm great at running. I'm great at writing. Everyone loves me.

Damn you Murakami! Way to crush my dreams of the mysterious warm-hearted man that peers at me from the jacket cover of many a books.